Has method for writing files on hdd changed in uTorrent v1.8?

[Radish]

Hi,

Been using uTorrent for a while now and never had any difficulties in defragmenting the partition to which torrent files are being saved. However, lately I've been seeing that my defragmenter, Diskeeper, just will not properly defragment the partition. I've checked the disk with a variety of tools and all comes up fine. Re-installed Diskeeper - no problems. Only problem turns up on the partition torrent files are on.

I've tried moving files off that partition, onto another, defraging the 'problem partition', moved the files back - and fine, they are now not fragmented. Leave uT running for a while, recheck and very high framentation again. Again I can set Diskeeper to defrag. After and hour and a half it says its finished - with fragmented files scattered all over the partition. Normally DK will defrag that partition in two to five minutes (tops).

Only other thing I can think of is that maybe there has been some change in the way uT manages allocation of files to disk. Or perhaps there is some issue that I just don't have the knowledge to identify.

Anyone else experiencing the same problem? Any helpful suggestions welcome.

P.S. I normally have uT set to 'pre-allocate disk space' for files.

[GTHK]

It's my understanding that 1.8 isn't overriding sparse files on pre-allocate like it's supposed to (a bug) and is a source of fragmentation(?).

Try turning off sparse files, the option is diskio.sparse_files in Preferences > Advanced. Also, you may have to stop torrents before defragmenting them.

[Radish]

Many thanks, GT - top of the class.

As suggested set, diskio.sparse_files = False. Defrag runs like a dream again. (Was driving me bonkers!)

Runs fine even with uT running (how I normally defrag it anyway).

Was also getting a fair number of messages from 'Eraser' saying it couldn't wipe file cluster tips because of 'EOF' issues - these related to torrent files. Those gone now as well.

Off now to look for details on all those (esoteric) 'Advanced' settings.

Thanks again, much appreciated.

[thelittlefire]

Press F1 in the 1.8 uTorrent to download/read the CHM file right from the web

Ultima will certainly appreciate someone reading it before asking more questions.

[PrimX]

Hello Radish!

I had a similar problem just today. I started a bunch of torrents with over 7 gigs of files and Diskeeper in the background with auto defrag on. Before I started I had around 11 gigs of free space. Diskeeper started being heavily active. After some time, I noticed strange things. The free disk space was decreasing although all the torrent files were already allocated so first I thought it had something to do with Diskeeper and auto defrag. When I turned it off the same problem remained even if I had logged out. So I just left the torrents loading and went to work.

When I came home all the torrents had downloaded to 100% and yet there was NO disk space left (0 bytes!) when there should be at least a couple of gigs!?! So I deleted one torrent content and again, very weird - there should have been 700 megs freed but there were only 350 or so. So I started Diskeeper console and analyzed the disk and then viewed most heavily fragmented files. The most fragmented were all the files of the torrents. So then I stopped related torrents and ran "Force re-check". Guess what..... during the check there were almost 4 gigs of space freed !!!! Precious disk space on my resilient laptop...

So thanks for posting this, I have disabled sparse files. :cool:

Is this then actually a bug? As I figured out from the 1.8.1 change list this is going to be disabled by default in the next update.

Cheers to all!

[thelittlefire]

It has to do with Vista being a retard.

[PrimX]

But I'm using WinXP....

[thelittlefire]

So... you do or do NOT have Ctrl-P > Advanced > diskio.sparse_files enabled?

[PrimX]

No, I have set it to false as suggested. I'm using WinXP SP3...

[Ultima]

:\

Can you try using a disk usage viewer (like TreeSize Free or WinDirStat) to see where the space is going?

[PrimX]

I suppose I could but it will take some time as I have to free some disk space (i.e. watch the stuff ) and load some new torrents and then monitor the whole thing. Will post the findings when available....

Hmmm, as I am reading all this I would just like to clarify the current situation....

I *had* sparse files enabled and experienced the issue described above. Now it's working ok when it's set to false. To try to reproduce it I have to re-enable it. Right? :|

[thelittlefire]

Heh, well I was just surprised a force recheck seemed to "zip" up all the aggregated freespace making the files more contiguous.

I used diskkeeper in the background a couple years ago... but I didn't like it doing stuff when it thought I was afk, but I was trying to do something. Perhaps I should try it again? I find windows defragmenter to be all I need when I NEED to defragment

[Ultima]

JkDefrag.

[Radish]

Sorry, I didn't know this thread had continued a bit:

I use WinXP SP3 as well (wouldn't touch Vista if they were giving it away).

Thanks, LittleFire for reminding of the existence of a Help file. Surprising amount of inf there but I'd still have had to ask the question as requires knowledge I didn't have, and Help doesn't cover sufficiently, to solve the issue. That said, have read all of Help now - Thank you again, I'm a bit better informed now. (Actually quite a good Help file.)

Me too PrimX - laptops all the way. Absolutely love 'em. Still have a ThinkPad 'A'-series, 3-spindle, desktop replacement concept. (Way to go!) Still runs solid after all this time, still prefer way above current 'glitter' ones I've tried and pushed to one side. Don't make 'em like that any more - but they d*mn well should. Small with excellent build quality and attention to detail is beautiful, join the club.

Off to dl 'JkDefrag'. Thanks for the suggestion, Ultima, didn't know - looks good, looks standalone, looks free. Just what I like. :-)